TMC is an independent, primarily volunteer organization that relies on ad revenue to cover its operating costs. Please consider whitelisting TMC on your ad blocker and becoming a Supporting Member. For more info: Support TMC

P85 to P85D Upgrade: First impressions at 200mi

I picked up my P85D a few days ago and thought I'd share my impressions coming from a 2013 P85. My P85D is loaded with every option (including front/rear Next gen seat) except for the winter tires + 21's.

I loved the P85 (put about 20,000 miles on it) and it was very hard to part with in November, but when the D was announced, I knew that I wanted to upgrade and I knew that I'd get a better price selling the P85 earlier than later. I upgraded half for the acceleration and half for the autopilot.

The P85D can best be described as a refined monster. It's your own personal race car. Generally speaking, nothing is faster off the line. While the P85 would squirm a bit as you planted the go pedal, the P85D tracks straight as an arrow under maximum acceleration. Around corners, the P85 is 90% flat, but the P85D is 98% flat and inspires massive confidence at speed.

I haven't analyzed the Wh/mi usage as yet (only have about 200 miles on it), but so far I'm not noticing a significant difference in range, even with lots of hard 400+kW accelerations.

One key point is that at 200mi now, the car's suspension has softened slightly (for the better) and acceleration + regen maximums seem to have increased since I put 50+ miles on it. That could be my perception, or the suspension may be breaking in and/or Tesla may have put some initial limitations on accel/regen. At first, I thought the suspension was a bit firm, but it has settled in nicely, and the regen is similar to my P85. As others have noted, there are no steering options: it's locked in what I'd call somewhere between standard and sport mode steering (based on the P85).

pros:-Very, very fast off the line-Stable ride and cornering
-Next gen seats hug you comfortably-Confident at higher speeds-Auto folding mirrors are great
-New auto close charge port is a nice touch

cons:-Insane mode is temping to use all the time but you have to watch out for your passengers: make sure their heads are planted against the head rests before launching!-Front parking sensors need some tweaking (seem to trigger at stop lights) but it'll improve.
-Build/mfg quality issues so far? None

Overall? It's one badass car. It feels strange even using the word "car" to describe this beast. The fact that it's electric is incredible. The P85D is a natural evolution of the P85 and that evolution (in just 1 year's time) is impressive. Thinking of getting a D? Do it. The power is intoxicating and the lack of emissions and zero oil delivers guilt-free fun.